Thursday morning coffee....

A buddy was going to stop by for coffee this morning.   We usually get together every week to stay in touch with each other's lives and talk about those we feel need to be talked about (we usually solve many of their problems too - ha ha ha)!  He is always willing to try whatever I put on a plate and he is - like my son - a fair and honest critic with a very big sweet-tooth!

Having nothing in the house from the sweet's category for the last couple of days - I decided to make cinnamon rolls.   I also wanted to play around with Dorie's brioche dough since it is a relatively easy recipe.   One idea quickly "morphed" to two and all of a sudden - there had to be lemon rolls too!   I wish I could stay focused........

After the dough rested overnight, I took the trusty rolling pin and rolled two pieces out to "about" 8x12 (can you use the word "artisan" to describe rolled dough?) and stuck them back in the fridge for about 30 minutes. 

I filled the cinnamon rolls with a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and some pecans.   I was a little afraid that they would not have a good gooey filling since there was nothing in this mix to make them messy.   I added a little butter but should have done something different (see below).

My step-mom makes the world's best orange rolls - but they are a lot of work!   I stole from her recipe (she doesn't like it if I say "inspired" - to her that is some sort of fraud) for the lemon rolls.   The filling was butter, powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice.   As I was putting this together - I thought it would have been tasty to add some brown sugar and cinnamon to the filling.... next time.

A little left over glaze and they were ready!

These were very gooey, messy and delicious - just like the cinnamon rolls will be next time!  

Too bad my buddy had to cancel at the last minute this morning.....   more for us!